Saturday, February 7, 2015

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7 02 2015
Today at 9:48 AM




N Thangaraja win season-opener at Panchkula, earns Indian Open berth

7 02 2015
N Thangaraja comes through in a battle of nerves to win season-opener at Panchkula, earns Indian Open berth

Mukesh Kumar is runner-up

Panchkula, Haryana, February 6, 2015: N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka came through in a battle of nerves to win the season-opening PGTI Players Championship presented by Panchkula Golf Club by one shot. Thangaraja, who totaled five-under-277 for the week, finished one shot ahead of Mhow golfer Mukesh Kumar who was runner-up at four-under-278. Both players fired scores of one-over-73 in the final round of the Rs. 30 lakh event on Friday.

Panchkula';s Angad Cheema and Chandigarh-based Abhijit Singh Chadha claimed a share of third place along with Delhi';s Ashok Kumar at three-under-279.

Thangaraja (69-67-68-73), the overnight leader by one shot, seemed to be coasting to victory as he was one-under through 15 holes on the final day. The 33-year-old landed his wedge shots within three feet to set up birdies on the sixth, 11th and 15th. A three-putt on the eighth and an erratic tee shot on the 13th resulted in dropped shots.

Mukesh Kumar (66-70-69-73), placed second after round three, emerged a serious contender for the title on Friday when he birdied the 15th and 16th to draw level with Thangaraja. Mukesh had made two birdies and two bogeys earlier in the round.

The 17th and 18th holes provided a befitting finale to the tournament. Both Thanga and Mukesh missed chip-putts to drop bogeys on the 17th and thus continued to share the lead. The 18th hole turned out to be decisive as Mukesh hit his tee shot out of bounds and therefore conceded a double-bogey. This enabled Thanga to take home the trophy despite a three-putt for bogey on the final hole.

Thangaraja, who bagged his second professional title, said, “This win is a morale-booster for me as I hadn’t won a tournament since December 2013. It’s great to start the season with a victory. I’m delighted that my success this week has earned me a spot at this month’s Indian Open.”

“I knew Mukesh was not going to make it easy for me towards the end. But I didn’t panic and put pressure on myself. I was very good around the greens today and hit only a couple of bad shots with the irons. My ball-striking was very consistent through the week,” added Thangaraja, who is now the 2015 Rolex Rankings leader.

Ashok Kumar’s four-under-68 was the day’s best round and helped him finish joint third. Ashok also came into contention when he was six-under for the day through 16 holes. However, he dropped out of the race with a double-bogey on the 18th.

Local lads Abhijit Singh Chadha (72) and Angad Cheema (73) shared third place with Ashok Kumar at three-under-279.

Delhi’s Shamim Khan and Noida golfers Rahul Bajaj and Amardip Sinh Malik were joint sixth at two-under-280.

Round 4 leaderboard:
277: N Thangaraja
278: Mukesh Kumar
279: Ashok Kumar, Abhijit Singh Chadha, Angad Cheema
280: Shamim Khan, Rahul Bajaj, Amardip Sinh Malik




7 02 2015
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VISHWA HINDU PARISHAD Delhi
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UN concerns about children’s rights in Sweden

7 02 2015
UN report notes that child abuse is on the rise in Sweden and criticizes the Nordic nation as well as Switzerland, the only two European countries featured in the report, for failing to comply fully with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The report, released by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Wednesday, included an assessment of children’s rights in 12 countries, such as Turkmenistan and Iraq, where far more egregious violations were found, including horrifying revelations of the Islamic State using kidnapped children as suicide bombers.
Media agencies




Nepal Constitution Making : Hopes for Justice to All

7 02 2015

ASHOK B SHARMA
India, with the rest of the world is watching with eagerness the transition of Nepal to a full-fledged republic with a Constitution that aims to empower all segments of the society. The small Himalayan country has already shown the world how to abandon the path of bullets and opt for ballot and to assimilate insurgents into the mainstream. However, a new draft Constitution continues to be elusive.
New Delhi is eager to see Nepali leaders draft the Constitution on their own. In August last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the Constituent Assembly appreciated the objective of a federal democratic republic and Nepal’s sovereign right to choose its own destiny. He hoped that the framers of the Constitution would work with the spirit of a rishi (seer) with an insight into not only into the country’s present condition but also into the future and do justice to all ethnic groups based on the principle of “Sarvjan Hitay, Sarvjan Sukha” (everyone’s interest and happiness). Modi had met the political leadership in Nepal across the entire spectrum.
Nepal is India’s immediate neighbour and also shares borders with China. Therefore, India needs to deal with a valuable partner like Nepal with extreme caution. Not that it should remain indifferent, but lend support when the government and the people of Nepal seek assistance. However, the young democratic republic is very sensitive to its sovereignty being encroached upon by interference by foreign powers. With multiple political parties (about 31) in the fray having different interests and representing different ethnic groups has made difficult for Constitution framers to arrive at a consensus as suggested by some world leaders. Besides some political leaders have their own ambition.
Recall, the second Jan Andolan (people’s movement) resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy in April 2006. The peace process that begun led to the coming into force the Interim Constitution early next year in mid-January to manage the transition from an unitary constitutional monarchy state to a federal republic.
The elections in April 10, 2008 led to the formation of the first unicameral Constituent Assembly of 601 members – 240 directly elected by the people, 335 elected through proportional representation and 26 nominated. It began its work on May 28 2008, but could not produce a Constitution within a period of four years. Thereafter, the 2013 elections threw up a second Constituent Assembly (CA) of 601 members.
The senior-most member of the House and a former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa assumed chairmanship of the CA on January 20, 2014 and administered the oath of office to 565 lawmakers at the first meeting of the Assembly on January 21, 2014 were the leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) pledged to draft a new Constitution within a year. This self-imposed deadline is now over with producing any tangible results.
If we are to compare Nepal with Afghanistan in the South Asian region, the latter, being a war-ravaged country, had suffered a lot to come out of the dreaded Taliban regime and draft a Constitution within a span of barely two years. As per stipulations of the Bonn Agreement the Afghan Constitution Commission was set up in October 5, 2002 that suggested that a new Afghan Constitution be adopted by a Loya jirga (Grand Assembly). The loya jirga was required to convene within 18 months of the establishment of Afghan Transitional Administration, which was established by the Emergency loya jirga in June 2002. After some delay, the proposed Afghan Constitution was presented to President Hamid Karzai on November 3, 2003. A loya jirga began December 14, 2003 (four days after schedule) in Kabul and was endorsed January 4, 2004.
Afghan Constitution was drafted when foreign troops were present in that country. But this is not the case with Nepal – there is no presence of any foreign troops, the country is sovereign. The Nepali leaders on their own came to negotiate peace and the people gave up “bullets” for “ballot”. But if we compare the situation in Afghanistan, even after the drawdown of NATO forces, there is still presence of Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and the government is trying to negotiate peace. Certain ethnic groups like Uzbeks, Turkmens and Baluch resented that the Constitution did not reflect their culture and interests.
Nepal has the experience of drafting Constitution in 1959, 1962 and 1990 – all these under Monarchy. In 1990, the first Jan Andolan had brought multi-party democracy back to Nepal, but it was short lived. After the overthrow of the monarchy in April 2006, the experiment for drafting a new Constitution for the republic is in process. The Interim Constitution in place to facilitate transition from a unitary constitutional monarch state to a federal republic has also undergone some amendments.
Though the political leadership have agreed to the concept of federal democratic republic, the debate over the form of federalism and creation of different States has become a contentious issue. Two competing proposals are on the table – one is territorial and administrative federalism and the other is identity-based federalism. In the proposal for territorial and administrative federalism, creation of seven provinces have been proposed, namely Far West, Lumbini, Karnali, Gandaki, Bagmati, Janakpur and Koshi. The critics of this proposal say that high castes will dominate over the under privileged. The advocates of the other competing proposal for creation of 10 identity-based provinces say that it would do justice to several ethnic groups.
Other issues where leaders are failing to reach a consensus are on the details of the form of governance, electoral system independence of judiciary, system of direct and proportional representation. The Madhesis issue has also become a contentious issue. Due closeness in culture with some neighbouring States in India, many mistake them to be pro-Indian even though they have been Nepali citizens over several generations.
The composition of the second Constituent Assembly is different from the first one. The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) of Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) which was dominant party in the first Constituent Assembly with 229 seats has been reduced to only 80 seats in the second Constituent Assembly, where Nepali Congress of Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has 196 seats followed by United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with 80 seats.
Nepal has a large network of fragmented civil society groups that are exerting pressure along with the demands of as many 31 political parties in the Constituent Assembly. There are also about 100 registered parties who failed to get their candidates elected. The second though has drawn upon some political leadership to get the Constitution drafted and approved through a majority vote if the path of a consensus fails.
One can hope that Nepal drafts a vibrant Constitution enough to do justice to the cross section of its cultural and ethnic diversity. A vibrant Nepal will not only be in the interest of India, but also South Asia.
(Ashok B Sharma is a senior Columnist writing on strategic and policy issues in many Indian and international newspapers and magazines. He frequently writes in The Daily Observer, Bangladesh and the magazine The Diplomatist. He can be reached at ashokbsharma@gmail.com His mobile phone no 9810902204)




Clintons’ son-in-law loses investor millions on Greece

6 02 2015
Hedge fund co-founded by Hillary and Bill Clinton’s son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky has suffered major losses after betting big on Greece’s economic recovery.
In a letter sent out last week, Mezvinsky and the two other founders of Eaglevale Partners Main, all former Goldman Sachs employees, wrote that they had been assessment of the Greek economy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Their false predictions resulted in a 3.6 percent drop for the fund in the last year, a time when similar hedge funds rose.
The 2014 financial year was the second year out of the past three that the fund saw losses $15 million Eaglevale fund focused exclusively on Greece lost a staggering a 48 percent of its value.
Media agencies




GAIL registers turnover of Rs 14,934 crores in third quarter of FY 2014-15

6 02 2015
GAIL (INDIA) LIMITED Net profit at Rs 604 crores
GAIL nine months Turnover (net of Excise) Rs 42,334 crores
New Delhi, February 6, 2015. GAIL (India) Limited registered a turnover (net of Excise Duty) of Rs. 14,934 crores in the third quarter of Financial Year 2014-15 as against Rs.15,980 crores in the corresponding period of the last financial year. GAIL’s Net Profit for the third quarter of the FY 2014-15 stood at Rs 604 crores as against Rs. 1,679 crores in the corresponding period of the previous year. The Gross Margin was Rs. 1,126 crores in the third quarter of the current financial year as against Rs. 2,498 crores in the corresponding period last year while the Profit Before Tax was Rs. 853 crores in the third quarter as against Rs. 2,451 crores in the corresponding period last year.
The profit during the quarter was impacted mainly due to the subsidy burden of Rs. 500 crores pertaining to the second quarter of FY 2014-15 accounted for in the third quarter, lower off take of long-term contracted RLNG by power and fertilizer plants, reduction in domestic gas availability by over 5 MMSCMD and higher feedstock cost for petrochemicals.
Segment-wise Revenue
During the third quarter of the current financial year, the net sales from Petrochemicals business increased by 7 percent to Rs.1,246 crores as against Rs.1,164 crores in the corresponding period of last year. Revenues from LPG and Liquid Hydrocarbons business stood at Rs. 1,054 crores as against Rs. 1,933 crores in the corresponding period of last year. The sales from Natural Gas Marketing during the third quarter was Rs.13,167 crores as against Rs.13,287 crores in the corresponding period of the last year. During the third quarter of the current financial year, Natural Gas Transmission business stood at Rs. 995 crores as against Rs. 1,189 crores in the corresponding period of previous year. The Net sales of LPG transmission during the third quarter of the current financial year was Rs.107 crores as against Rs. 114 crores in the corresponding period last year.
Physical Performance
During the third quarter of the current financial year, the Natural Gas sales were 74.08 MMSCMD as against 79.74 MMSCMD during the corresponding period last year. During the third quarter of FY 2014-15, the petrochemical production was 119 TMT, as against 122 TMT in the corresponding period last year. The polymer sales during the third quarter of the current financial year were 112 TMT, up by 3 percent from 109 TMT in the corresponding period in the previous year. The LPG transmission during the third quarter of the current financial year was 773 TMT while it was 855 TMT during the corresponding period in the previous financial year. The LPG and Other Liquid Hydrocarbon production during the third quarter of the current financial year was 329 TMT against 330 TMT in the corresponding period last year. The LPG and Other Liquid Hydrocarbon sales during the third quarter of the current financial year were 330 TMT against 332 TMT in the corresponding period last year. The Natural Gas transmission during the third quarter of the current financial year was 94.09 MMSCMD as against 95.70 MMSCMD in the corresponding period last year.
Nine months Results
GAIL (India) Limited registered a turnover (net of Excise Duty) of  Rs.42,334 crores in the first nine months of FY 2014-15 as against Rs.42,781  Crores in the corresponding period  of the last financial year. GAIL’s Net Profit after tax for the first nine months of the FY 2014-15 was Rs. 2,528 crores as against Rs. 3,403 crores in the corresponding period previous year. The Gross Margin was Rs.4,654 crores in the first nine months of the current financial year as against Rs. 5,749 crores in the corresponding period last year. The Profit Before Tax stood at Rs. 3,726 crores in the first nine months of the current financial year against Rs. 4,963 crores in the corresponding period last year.
Segment-wise Revenue
During the first nine months of the current financial year, revenues from Natural Gas Transmission stood at Rs. 2,422 crores as against Rs. 3,255 crores in the corresponding period in the previous year. The net sales from Petrochemicals business during the nine months have increased by 3 percent to Rs. 3,520 crores as against Rs. 3,401 crores in the corresponding period of last year. The net sales from LPG and Liquid Hydrocarbons business during the nine months of the current financial year have increased by 1 percent to Rs. 4,018 crores as against Rs. 3,976 crores in the corresponding period of last year. The revenues from LPG transmission during the nine months of the current financial year have increased by 4 percent to Rs. 316 crores as against Rs. 303 crores in the corresponding period last year. The revenues from Natural Gas Marketing during the nine months of the current financial year was Rs. 36,655 crores as against Rs. 36,724 crores in the corresponding period of the last year.
Physical Performance
The Natural Gas transmission during the nine months of the current financial year was 94.05 MMSCMD as against 96.74 MMSCMD in the corresponding period last year. The Natural Gas sales during the nine months of FY 2014-15 were 73.18 MMSCMD as against 80.14 MMSCMD during the corresponding period last year. During the nine months of the current financial year, petrochemical production was 336 TMT as against 353 TMT in the corresponding period last year. The petrochemical sales during the nine months of the current financial year were 309 TMT as against 338 TMT in the corresponding period in the previous year. The LPG transmission during the nine months of the current financial year was 2,306 TMT, an increase of 1 percent as against from 2,283 TMT during the corresponding period in the previous financial year. The LPG and Other Liquid Hydrocarbon production during the nine month of the current financial year were 978 TMT as against 1,015 TMT in the corresponding period last year. The LPG and Other Liquid Hydrocarbon sales during the nine months of the current financial year were 975 TMT against 1,019 TMT in the corresponding period last year.
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HM: Probe St Alphonsa Church desecration as hate crime

6 02 2015

India Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh orders Delhi police to probe St Alphonsa Church desecration as hate crime
Earlier, Nuns, Priest and citizens brutalized in crackdown on peaceful protestors in New Delhi
The Home Minister of India, Mr. Rajnath Singh, today ordered the Delhi police to investigate as a hate crime the desecration earlier this week of the St Alphonsa Church in the Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi.
Mr. Singh’s assurance of adding relevant sections of the Indian penal Code to the probe came in a meeting with Christian leaders in his office after the Delhi police had brutalized women, Nuns, men and priests who were protesting the government apathy. They had demanded the government of India take urgent steps to assure the community of their security following a large number of attacks in various parts of the country, peaking during the Christmas reason. The National capital territory saw desecration and vandalizing in five Catholic churches since 1 December 2014.
Responding to the delegation’s fears that police and administrative apathy was encouraging non-state actors in persecuting the community, Mr. Rajnath Singh said the government would not discriminate on the basis of relgion, caste or community.
The delegation consisted of senior members who were also among those arrested in the aggressive police crackdown at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi. Members of the delegation were  Fr Sebastian Susai, Vicar General, Delhi Archdiocese, Dr. John Dayal, Member, NIC, Govt. of India, Past President, All India Catholic Union, Mr. Jenis Francis, Advocate, President, FACAAD, Mr. A C Michael, Past Member, Delhi Minorities Commission, Mr. Vijayesh Lal, Director, Religious Liberty Commission – EFI, Fr Maria Susai, Parish Priest, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Fr Dominic Emmanuel, svd, and Mrs. Nisha Samuel.The arrested persons were released later in the afternoon. Police Commissioner Mr. Bassi also met the delegation later in the evening assuring security for  churches.
The community says it has lost faith in Delhi police which has failed to solve the conspiracy that has led to the vandalism, arson and desecration of churches. Instead of probing the crimes, the police consistently tried to minimize them. Despite detailed complaints, the effort has been to list them as minor thefts or short circuits.
The Christian community had come out in large numbers on 2nd December 2014 and had marched to the Delhi police headquarters after the St Sebastian Catholic Church, in East Delhi’s Dilshad Garden, was gutted in a fire he previous night. The police promised a through investigation, but more than two months on, has not announced any progress in the case.
The latest incident that shocked the community was the  desecration of the Holy Communion by persons who broke into the St. Alphonsa’s Church in Vasant Kunj on 2nd March 2015. The Parish priest pointed out that the attempt was to injured religious feelings of the community as nothing of substance was stolen from the church. Three donation boxes and other precious things were left untouched. The local police, apparently under orders of the senior officers, registered a case of theft.
Community representatives from all localities of the national capital gathered at the sacred Heart Cathedral at Gole Dak-khana and marched to the residence of Union Home Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh before they were stopped by the police. In a memorandum to the Home Minister, community representatives  listed the five recent attacks in churches:
  1. St Sebastian Church, Dilshad Garden [ 1 December 2014]:  The entire inferior burnt. Police action was promised. No information on the progress made by Delhi police.
  2. Syro Malabar Catholic Church, Jasola [3 December 2014] Window smashed by rock during Holy Mass services, glass pieces on altar:  Police silent
  3. Church of Resurrection, Rohini, [3 January 2015] Crib with statues burnt to ashes. Effort to pass it off as short circuit
  4. Our Lady of Grace, Vikaspuri, [14 January, 2015]  Grotto attacked. CCTV  captures images of vandals. Police arrest three men, claim they did it as a drunken prank.
  5. St. Alphonsa’s Church, Vasant Kunj [ 2 February 2015 Church broken into, Sacred Host [holy communion] desecrated. Despite detailed complaint, police trying to minimize crime as “theft” and “breaking into residential house”
Elsewhere in the country, the targetted and communal violence continues with its vicious hate campaign, physical violence, police complicity, and State impunity in the persecution of the Christian community in many states of India. Human Rights and Civil Society groups have documented the death of two persons in 2014, killed for their Christian faith. The Persecution data lists 149 cases. An analysis of the data shows Chhattisgarh topping the list with 28 incidents of crime, followed closely by  neighbouring Madhya Pradesh with 26, Uttar Pradesh with  18 and Telengana, a  newly carved out of Andhra Pradesh, with  15 incidents.
Much of the violence has taken place after the new government of the National Democratic alliance headed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, came into power on 26 Mary, 2014. The violence peaked between August and October with 56 cases, before zooming up to 25 cases during the Christmas season. The violence has continued well into the New Year 2015, with more Catholic churches in the city targetted as incidents continue in other states. Much of the violence,  54 percent, is of threats, intimidation, coercion, often with the police looking on.  The two cases of death in communal anti Christian violence were reported from Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
The memorandum recalled that the President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, noted the rise of communalism and the targetting if religious minorities in his address to the Nation on 25th January 2015, the eve of Republic Day. President Mukherjee said “In an international environment where so many countries are sinking into the morass of theocratic violence … We have always reposed our trust in faith-equality where every faith is equal before the law and every culture blends into another to create a positive dynamic.  The violence of the tongue cuts and wounds people';s hearts. The Indian Constitution is the holy book of democracy. It is a lodestar for the socio-economic transformation of an India whose civilisation has celebrated pluralism, advocated tolerance and promoted goodwill between diverse communities. These values, however, need to be preserved with utmost care and vigilance.”
The memorandum demanded that the government take urgent and effective measures to restore the Rule of Law, curb the targetted and communal violence. The guilty must be traced, and action under the law should be taken. Police officers must be held accountable for communal crimes in their jurisdiction. “In Delhi, we demand a Special Investigating team be set up to investigate the five  acts of violence against the catholic Churches, monitored by the High Court of Delhi,” community leaders said.
——
For more information, please contact:
Fr. Savarimuthu  Sankar  9968006616 frsankar@gmail.com
Mr. A C Michael  9999940633 acmichael60@gmail.com
Mr. Vijayesh Lal  9810176973 vijayeshl@gmail.com
Dr. John Dayal 9811021072  john.dayal@gmail.com
Adv. Jenis Francis: 9811064616 jenisfrancis@gmail.com


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